Wade McLean, the career Marana Unified School District educator
who retired as superintendent in 2003, is running for the Arizona
House of Representatives because "public education needs a
voice.

"I will be that voice," said McLean, running for one of two
Republican nominations in the District 26 race on Aug. 24.

"The state of Arizona is in a mess, and I have watched over the
last 37 years the struggle public education has had in Arizona, and
it's never been worse," McLean said.

McLean is a believer in "organizational culture." If you listen
to the "self talk" of an organization, you can determine its
self-esteem, he believes.

"There are not a lot of positive conversations" in the Arizona
Legislature, McLean said. "I believe, in the last several years, we
have excluded people from the conversation on who Arizona should
be."

The third-generation Southern Arizonan thinks "Maricopa is
making decisions that affect Southern Arizona, and we have not had
a very strong voice, if any," McLean said. "I am a Southern Arizona
person that will say what is necessary in order to have our voice
heard in Maricopa, and that's been absent."

On SB 1070:

"It is the law. I believe in laws," McLean said.

There are "two issues at the border," he continued.

"Criminals" cross into this country, "and they need to be
stopped to protect our people," McLean said.

Other people cross to work. "We need to dry up the jobs for
illegal immigrants, period."

McLean "probably would have voted for" Senate Bill 1070. "Prior,
we should have put more pressure on the federal government. Did we
do that? Did we send delegations to Congress? Did we force the
federal government to step up and do what is necessary, do what it
is they're responsible for?" He wonders if the leadership
considered a lawsuit by Arizona against the federal government,
"and have them defend themselves."

He asks whether there were conversations before 1070 regarding
its legal defense, about the likely response of the federal
government to the law, or with the residents of Arizona about its
ramifications. "Did we sit with the tourist industry, and ask them
to 'tell us what you think's going to happen if we do this? Did we
have those conversations? We did not, I suspect."

Terri Proud

Terri Proud is running for the Arizona House because "I'm not
happy with what is going on, nationally in our country, that's how
it started."

Proud perceives "a lot of concern about our guns being taken
away" by the Obama Administration, so she joined the Second
Amendment March. Then, "when Obama started to push a national
health care system, that concerned me a lot." Her youngest of two
daughters has cystic fibrosis. "In any other country, she wouldn't
be where she is today," Proud said. "I know what socialized care
does, and it's horrible. These are national things that are going
to affect us at the state level."

From there, Proud became "more in tune with what is going on in
our own district, our own state." And, when she did research into
District 26's representation, "I did not like what I had found. I
wanted to make a difference. I want to see a change. With my
experiences, I can really make a difference, so I decided to
run."

She has "no regrets, none whatsoever, not even on the worst day"
about running. "What I'm doing is making a difference."

Proud is a single mother of two girls, and her candidacy has
"already made a difference in my kids' lives, just by running. What
I have shown them is it doesn't matter if you're a single mom,
where you're at in life, if you want to make a difference, you can.
I didn't let my circumstance deter me from that, and they see
that."

On SB 1070:

"I support it completely," Proud said of 1070. "Absolutely," she
would have voted for it. "We don't have enough revenue to support
the amount of illegals coming into Arizona," Proud said. "It's also
a safety issue." Victims of border-related crime are "devastated we
have not done anything to solve this problem. Mexico is not taking
care of their people. And the U.S. is so profitable in drugs. We
need to stop funding Mexico."

Proud supports a guest worker program. "Make sure every single
person is accounted for," Proud said. "The federal government is
not going to do anything."

"We need to secure our border, period," Proud said. "People are
breaking the law. No other country would tolerate what we
tolerate."

Vic Williams

Republican Rep. Vic Williams is running for a second two-year
term in House District 26 "to finish the job we started back in
2008.

"We faced the largest deficit in the state's history, on a
percentile or real dollar basis. I heard from the voters on the
impacts of illegal immigration. And protecting education, class
size and teacher pay," Williams said.

Those issues have been addressed, the Oro Valley businessman
argues. The Legislature passed Senate Bill 1070, "to try to
mitigate the impacts" of illegal immigration. "We balanced the
budget by being fiscally responsible. We passed Proposition 100. In
crunch time, we had tough choices, tough decisions to make for
tough times."

Williams believes he's found a voice in the Legislature.

"Being an effective member from Southern Arizona, you have to
walk a fine balance between representing the interests of your
district, and still maintaining relevance within your caucus,"
Williams said. "That's probably the most challenging aspect of this
job. … You can challenge the leadership and powers in Maricopa, but
still have a voice within the process where you can still be
effective for your district. That's the reality of the situation.
You have to pick and choose your battles."

On SB 1070:

Senate Bill 1070 is "the right thing to do. I believe we're in
the right. The vast majority in Arizona and the country want to see
realistic reform to our illegal immigration problem." He wants to
see border security and expanded guest worker opportunities. He
wants "strict and stringent laws" to penalize employers who hire
people illegally, and cut off services to illegals in this
country.

"We want people to come to this country legally," Williams said.
"Pay taxes, be protected by our laws, receive services relevant to
their status."

Judge Susan Bolton's injunction on parts of 1070 is "politically
motivated," Williams said. "It presumes it would create racism. SB
1070 is rooted in the rule of law, and not racism. We need to find
avenues to protect Arizona, and Southern Arizona, from the effects
of illegal immigration."

The law has "changed the national discussion about the effects
of illegal immigration in this country. We need to seize the
opportunity, work with other states, and ensure ultimately the
federal government will do its task."